malden

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:

•Mike Tranghese is officially gone as the commissioner of the Big East Conference, and a certain era ends with him.

He was the first full-time employee, the former Providence College sports information director who hitched his star to Dave Gavitt and his new basketball league back in 1979.

To say it’s been an amazing ride is an understatement.

Tranghese was there every step of the way, as the Big East has grown into the biggest league in college basketball. For the last 19 years he was the commissioner, keeping it from splitting apart, overseeing its growth, all while doing it in his understated way.

Through all of his great success he’s remained as down-to-earth as he was when I first met him in the early 1970s when he was the sports information director at PC and I was starting out as a writer, trying to sell him stories.

Sometimes the good guys really do win.

•Rasheed Wallace will make the Celtics better, even if he’s 35 and has been a-pain-in-the-you-know-what everywhere he’s been.

•The end of the world won’t be covered any more extensively than Michael Jackson’s death, the coverage of which has become beyond over the top.

•I don’t know about you, Bunky, but I’ve overdosed on anything to do with Tom and Giselle. I want to see him play football. The rest of it? No mas.

•Manny coming back to the Dodgers is the contemporary equivalent of the circus comes to town.

•Quiz of the Week: I am a pitcher and for the last nine years I’ve been on a team that’s won its division. Who am I? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)

•Line of the Week comes from Shaq, on his joining LeBron and the Cavaliers: “Win a ring for the King.”

And no, he’s not talking about Elvis.

•Line of the Week II comes from author Bruce Littlefield, as reported in the New York Post: “A-Rod’s recent home runs can be attributed to Yankee manager Joe Girardi giving him a day off and Kate Hudson giving him a night off.”

•Away We Go ultimately drowns in its own quirkiness.

•The Rays are finally starting to play like the Rays were supposed to play.

•And the Yankees, too.

•Some of the gloss has come off Pistons general manager Joe Dumars, who botched up the Chauncey Billups—Allen Iverson trade and now has fired coach Michael Curry after only one year. Getting free agent Ben Gordon should help.

•There’s no truth to the rumor that the new movie Public Enemies is about the General Assembly.

•You can make a case that the three best teams in baseball are in the American League East, with the Dodgers the fourth-best.

•Soccer star Landon Donovan rips David Beckham in this week’s Sports Illustrated for being a lousy teammate.

•You’ve seen too many movies if you remember that Karl Malden played Jimmy Piersall's father in the 1957 movie Fear Strikes Out.

•Memo to Mark Sanford: no one wants to hear about your “soul mate.”

•What were the odds back when they were learning tennis in the public parks of Compton, Calif., that the Williams sisters would be playing in their fourth Wimbledon final Saturday?

•The Friars’ home schedule is always better when Louisville and UConn come in here, which they will next season.

•Manny and Michael Jackson are one more reminder that in today’s America nothing trumps celebrity, regardless of the baggage that surrounds it.

•Did you see where Robert Swift is on the Celtics’ summer league team, the same Robert Swift that Danny Ainge lusted for in 2004 when he was in the NBA Draft?

•The word is Jimmy Baron has a deal in Turkey if he wants it.

•Zen Question of the Week: Like can we have a summer without really having a summer?

•And does the “ice cream man” still drive through neighborhoods on summer evenings anymore?

•The Celtics no doubt believe that Rasheed Wallace will not be a problem if he comes to Boston.

•Let’s see: we’ve got an economy in crisis, Iran about to explode, and every news station you turn on is dealing with Michael Jackson. Is that about it?

•Quiz Answer: Rockies’ pitcher Jason Marquis, who pitched for the Braves from 2000-2003, the Cardinals from 2004-2006, and the Cubs from 2007-2008.

•Can you really be a Rhode Island politico without walking in the Bristol Fourth of July Parade?

•Anyone who tells you they’re not surprised with how well Tim Wakefield’s been pitching is lying to you.

•Did you see where Lance Stephenson, the Coney Island basketball wunderkind with the nickname “Born Ready” is supposedly fast-breaking to Cincinnati? There’s no truth to the rumor that the NCAA is right behind him.

•A special shout out to “Reading With Robin” every Saturday morning on WHJJ. Anyone who tries to push reading in this new text-babble world should be applauded.

•Be careful with those firecrackers, Bunky. It’s a jungle out there.

breynold@projo.com